


Tomorrow's Song

by jemakku (flopyxing)



Series: The Dreamscapers [2]
Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Dreamscapes, Dreamsharing, East Asian Mythology, Family, Gen, Mild Gore, Science Fiction & Fantasy, fem!suho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 13:39:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8403766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flopyxing/pseuds/jemakku
Summary: Yuta meets his new family members.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [Tomorrow's Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdhdutGV8BU) by Ólafur Arnalds
> 
> Junhee is fem!Suho and is literally called that by the man himself. Set 10 years before the events in "The Dreamscapers" but you really don't have to read it to understand this one. Reading this would definitely help you understand The Dreamscapers, however.
> 
> For Yuta and Sicheng's birthday.

 

Bending aspects of reality within dreams to his whims wasn’t something that came easy to Yuta. Mother liked to remind him that his grades were the least of his concerns. Yuta understood her reasoning perfectly. After all, he was the only half-human hybrid in the entire world that was in perfect working condition.

“I do wish you’d stop talking about yourself like you’re anything less than my wonderful son, Yu-kun,” Mother said.

“Your wonderful son got a 76.3% score on his last assessment exam,” Yuta reminded her. He rolled his eyes at her scoff. “Now that they have fully artificial baku, they could scrap me anytime now.”

“As long as I’m here, you don’t have to worry about being scrapped.” She unclipped her seatbelt and reached over to his seat to snatch his tablet away. “Ever. Now can we please pretend we’re a normal mother and son off to see the son’s perfectly normal father?”

“And his perfectly normal sons from another mother?” Yuta said, grabbing his tablet back. He needed to practice his visualizations again.

“You know they don’t actually have a— “

“I know, I know,” Yuta said, cutting her off.

Unlike Yuta, the boys they were flying all the way to the backwaters of Great China to meet were test tube babies. Not that Professor Kim Junhee was his actual mother. Nor was the ‘father’ she mentioned, Professor Zhang Yixing, his actual father or her husband. They were a complicated family and the whole point of the trip was to welcome new members into it.

Mother didn’t often sulk. She was usually a pushover, especially when it came to Yuta, the only experiment she’s officially adopted into her family register. Unused to her coldness, Yuta refused to link arms with her when they were getting off the plane.

“What are you two doing?” an amused voice greeted them while they were wordlessly wrestling with each other at the Arrivals. They didn’t plan on meeting up at the airport, but there was Professor Zhang with his arms slung around two boys a head shorter than Yuta’s.

Mother almost ripped her arm off in her haste to launch herself at Professor Zhang, completely forgetting that she had forcefully wrapped it around Yuta’s arm.  “Xing!” she cried before lowering her voice into a threatening tone. “You really think you can laugh at me and get away with it?”

Yuta watched Professor Zhang get tickled for only a few heartbeats before deciding that falling into an awkward silence with his new surrogate brothers would be less painful.

One of them had a rounder face than the other. He looked a bit scared of Mother, and Yuta didn’t miss the way the dopey looking one cling to the hem of his t-shirt.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yuta,” he said, offering a hand to shake. The wary boy was still distracted by Mother so it was the other one who replied.

“Ha-haji…uh…,” he said before settling for an apologetic look.

  

˚ *  
.  
· ⊹ * ˚ · ˚  
* ✧ ˚  
· * ˚ ✧ ✫ ✧  
* . .  
* ⊹ .

  

“What do you think about him?” Winwin whispered into Kun’s shoulder.

Kun didn’t reply. He was probably annoyed that Winwin had pretended to be asleep the moment they got into the transport pod. Winwin snuck his hand up Kun's shirt and tickled him lightly. “What do you think about him?” he whispered again.

Still no answer. Winwin raised his head to check on Yuta. He looked very absorbed in his tablet so Winwin jabbed a finger into Kun’s rib. Kun hissed and rolled around in his seat, his nose bumping into Winwin’s accidentally.

“Scary,” he breathed out after deciding that he had glared at Winwin enough. “He’s so tall. And so…,” Kun paused for a word but Winwin nodded to show he got it.

There was something different about Yuta. Strange. Stranger than the language he spoke.

Back in the labs, Professor Zhang told them that they would be meeting friends. Professor Zhang and ‘Mother’ definitely looked like they were close, but Winwin had already decided a long time ago that Kun would be his only friend.

Professor Zhang also said that they were going on a holiday. Winwin didn’t really understand. But Professor Zhang made it clear that there won’t be any tests for as long as they’re away from the lab. That made Winwin happy, even though he’s still unable to smile like Kun can.

“It’s okay,” Kun whispered. Kun always liked to complain that he couldn’t understand Winwin, but sometimes, like right now, he could. Winwin snuggled closer, slowly falling asleep to the faint swooshing sound of the pod navigating the underground tunnels.

Winwin wasn’t good with words. He was bad at finding the corresponding words to every idea in his head. With dreams, that problem was gone. Concepts didn’t need explaining, they just were. Every dream was an exercise in learning about himself.

There were dreams where Winwin has to solve puzzles or fight Nightmares with partners, like Winwin. Then there were dreams like the ones he was having now, where he was alone.

He was drifting in a large body of water, floating aimlessly for a long time until he could feel something cold bumping into him over and over again. 

Winwin stood up, blood and dream essence cascading down his body, his pants soaked and heavy. He was standing in the middle of a sea of carnage. No longer alone. No longer the only one alive.

He could smell Yuta before his mind fully accepted that he was there. Another target? Winwin couldn't remember, but Yuta smelled like dream essence.

_Please…_

Winwin dropped to all fours, fangs bared, wings unfurled.

_Don’t!_

Winwin woke up with a start. There was a flurry of activity around him, but it was Yuta who was in the center of it all. Yuta was unconscious and his body was shaking with tremors. From Winwin’s seat, he could also see that Yuta’s face was shining with sweat. He was mumbling something over and over again. Winwin knew what they were because he heard them in his dream.

_Please. Don’t._

  

˚ *  
.  
· ⊹ * ˚ · ˚  
* ✧ ˚  
· * ˚ ✧ ✫ ✧  
* . .  
* ⊹ .

 

Yuta found him sitting alone on one of the bigger rocks lining the beach, his bare feet not quite touching the water. The rest of the family was still having dinner and Mother had sent him off to look for the missing Winwin. She had probably noticed that Yuta had been avoiding him and Kun.

He sighed. Hands in his pockets, Yuta strode over to where Winwin was, kicking pebbles loudly so that he knew Yuta was coming.

Yuta grinned at the thought of being careful not to scare Winwin. Mother had explained that they were designed to be weapons. That before Professor Zhang intervened, neither Winwin nor Kun had a future beyond a life as a Nightmare.

“Yo,” Yuta said, once he was close enough. “Scooch over,” he said, gesturing at Winwin to make room so they could sit side by side. Yuta realized sometime after silence fell over them that he was meant to bring Winwin back, not...do nothing. The tension made his skin itch and he and Winwin had already exchanged awkward smiles eight times.

Winwin's body language was like an open book. Yuta could tell that he was nervous in case he'd cause Yuta trouble again. That made him feel bad, since it wasn't Winwin's fault. Then again, he didn't know how to tell Winwin that when they don't even speak the same language. 

The answer came to Yuta when he caught Winwin making the same finger gestures he used for one of his dreamscaping trainings. Feeling slightly shy for what he was about to do, Yuta gestured at Winwin to close his eyes. He jumped when Yuta grabbed his hand but mercifully kept his eyes closed. Then Yuta followed suit.

He couldn’t force Winwin to dream, where bending aspects of reality was difficult but possible. But maybe Winwin could understand what Yuta was trying to do. Even with the sound of lapping waves, Yuta could hear Winwin’s heart pounding in fierce staccato.

_I’m here. I won’t run away again. I'm sorry. You are not a monster._

 Slowly, Winwin's heart calmed down.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yuta had introduced himself in Japanese without thinking and Winwin tried to copy what he said (Hajimemashite/はじめまして).
> 
> The[baku](http://yokai.com/baku/), or dream eater, is a Japanese mythical creature with Chinese roots. As its name would suggest, it devours nightmares and in some instances, even good dreams. See [also](http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-asia/baku-legend-dream-eater-002383).


End file.
